Women at the Well By Caleb Miller
This is a guest post by Caleb Miller If you are interested in being a guest writer please send an email to redeemingfamily@gmail.com
What We Have In Common With The Women At The Well
Stories are built to be retold and experienced, not picked apart. Stories are kind of like jokes; they lose some of their power when they have to be explained. The story of the woman at the well is one of the most powerful stories I know, and the most powerful parts of it require very little explanation: this woman encounters her Savior.
I want to focus on what we have in common with this woman, and how Jesus treats her and talks to her.
Jesus’ interaction with this woman is a window into how he might interact with you or me if we met him along the side of the road in our hour of need. We are sinful and yet can be accepted. We are broken and yet there is an invitation for us part of a new family, to be children of God. Here it is beautifully expressed in a quote from a preacher named Tim Keller:
“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
We are going to quickly consider this story in six parts.
1. CROSSING THE DIVIDE: Jesus crosses the divide of hostility between Jews and Samaritans, and the woman wonders how and why he does this.
2. LIVING WATER: Jesus offers living water; the woman desperately wants the living water he offers
3. JESUS THE PROPHET: Jesus reveals that he is a prophet; the woman does not argue when he rehearses her situation and her sins
4. THE INVITATION: Jesus invites the woman to worship God
5. THE WOMAN’S RESPONSE: The woman goes out into the towns and villages and points others to him
6. THE PEOPLE’S RESPONSE: Jesus’s words echo in the woman’s testimony; many in the surrounding towns and villages believe the woman’s testimony
Crossing the Divide
And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. John 4:5-9
Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Historically, because of civil wars and other religious differences between the North and the South, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. And Samaritans, for their part, did not particularly like Jews either.
Think of some divides of hostility today. Irish Catholics and Protestants. Palestinian Arabs and Israelis. The terrible legacy of slavery and exploitation, the complicated conversation about race and privilege, and status in the United States today.
These were people that did not get along. Jesus, the Jewish Rabbi, stood out from the others at the well in Samaria because he dared to travel alone. Jesus crosses the divide of hostility between Jews and Samaritans, and the woman wonders how and why he does this. She is surprised that he even acknowledges her existence. Jesus is traveling. His humanity is on full display, it is around noon and he is thirsty from walking under the heat of the sun. Jesus is also aware of his surroundings. He knows this woman from Samaria, and though she does not yet know him, he is not afraid to break protocol, to cross a cultural barrier, to speak to someone who is not a part of his community, to be vulnerable, and to ask for help from someone else. Jesus, the Lord of the universe, the Son of God who could easily call down angels to serve him or a rain storm to quench his thirst, asks a complete stranger for a favor. Here we can see hints that we are more sinful and flawed than we dare believe.
We hold prejudices. We have such a narrow focus, we have a lot in common with this woman. We are often not expecting Jesus to show up in our lives. After she asks Jesus how he can cross this divide, and why he is even speaking with her, he offers her his first challenge.
Jesus Offers Living Water.
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” John 4:10-14
Jesus is starting to speak her language. He is meeting her where she is at. This is a woman who makes the hard journey to the well, probably once a day, for water. Clean water was hard to come by.
Listen to the woman’s response:
Jesus said, “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” John 4:14-15
As the woman realizes that Jesus may not be bluffing, the woman realizes that she desperately wants the living water he offers.
Jesus made himself vulnerable, but now the vulnerability of the woman starts to become clear too. A journey to a well had dangers too.
Even today, across the world there are refugee camps in Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan and other war-torn regions where simply walking to the bathroom or walking to a water source requires women to risk being attacked and violated by groups of men that lay in waiting.
Can you hear the longing in her voice? She dares to hope for a second that he is serious. She is thinking of the oil jar Elijah keeps full or the manna from heaven that Moses brought on the Israelites and she says Sir, please give me this water. Fill my jug with clean water. What a relief it would be not to have to make this journey, to risk the danger to my life every day, to wonder whether this well will dry up or someone will come along and threaten my life.
Our own stories intersect with her at this point, more than we ever dared think. We are more dependent on this living water than we realize. It is sometimes hard to see in our world, so full of convenience and comfort, we can go to a drinking fountain or overpay for water at any gas station we choose. It is easy to forget how short life is, and how easily the privileges we enjoy could be taken away. We are thirsty, we are needy, and somewhere deep in our souls, we crave this same living water.
See how seamlessly Jesus puts his good news into language the woman can understand? He uses an image, it takes a second for us to understand, but he speaks so gently to her. But for us, the image might change and the message is the same.
Jesus offers unlimited rest from a packed workweek.
Jesus offers eternal hope to those struggling with depression.
Jesus offers assurance of forgiveness to those who feel shame over a troubled past.
“We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
And this brings us to his next revelation to the woman,
Jesus the Prophet
Jesus reveals that he is a prophet; the woman does not argue when he rehearses her situation and her sins
Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.” John 4:16-19
Jesus is not sentimental. He is not glossing over the remaining barrier between this woman and himself: the barrier of sin. This woman, as I said, was part of a vulnerable class of people. Without protection from a husband, or someone acting that part, she would not long survive. And yet she still had a shameful way she went about surviving.
Jesus treats her with dignity but holds her accountable.
Jesus is not fooled with her, he does not give her an easy pass because of a hard life.
Jesus would not be fooled with us if we were to have a face-to-face conversation with him. We have all thought, said, and done things that are wicked and wrong. He knows our deepest regrets and our greatest fears. He knows things about us that we do not know about ourselves.
As the woman discovers that she is not only acknowledged and recognized but she is known, it slowly dawns on her. “Sir I perceive that you are a prophet.” I sometimes chuckle when I read this, if I said it, it would be a deflection. Jesus, can we talk about something other than my embarrassing sins? But I think she was calling attention to his prophetic voice, his right to challenge her on this. Jesus the prophet, Jesus the judge, Jesus the one who will enforce the holy and unbreakable laws rooted in God’s unchanging character, this Jesus wants to know us.
Slowly her question changes, doesn’t it? At first, she was asking him “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” But now it is, “How is it that you, a prophet and holy man of God, who has living water to offer and may be the anointed King of Israel, ask for a drink from me, a wretched sinner?”
Each of us ask the same question of God, if we are honest with ourselves. “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
But Jesus is not limited, he is not delayed. He extends an invitation to her.
The Invitation
Jesus invites the woman to worship God
The woman starts to reflect and says: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:20-24
This woman was running an errand. She was going about her day. And now she is called out, to the great privilege of offering a drink to this mysterious and godly man, and she is starting to remember her Bible lessons. She is reaching deep into what she learned about God. Have you ever had that feeling when all of a sudden the conversation switches to spiritual things and you’re trying to remember what was said in Sunday School? It was like that.
Jesus is gracious with her. He doesn’t make this about debating theology, though He gently corrects a little bit of what she believes, or misunderstands, or misremembers. Salvation will come from the Jews, as the prophets have promised, but times are changing. Jesus is bringing change according to God’s plan.
For the prophets did not just promise that salvation would come for the Jews. Through the Jews, all the nations of the world would be blessed. Through the Jews, God would extend an invitation to the entire world, so that people from every tribe tongue, and nation would worship him in spirit and truth.
The Father is already seeking people to worship like this. Jesus brought this home for this woman, the Father is seeking such people to worship him. The Father is seeking this woman. What does the woman say to this?
The Womans Response
The woman starts to guess who this man really is,
The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” John 4:25-29
This woman offers up her last defense, admitting that now Jesus is speaking to her about things beyond her depth and capability. She, like us, is prone to get it wrong and she is not going to find all the truth on her own unless it is revealed to her.
And Jesus once again meets her where she is, but does not leave her in suspense. “I who speak to you am he.” I am the anointed king. This woman, whether she meant to or not, guessed right.
And immediately, without even collecting her water, without asking any more questions, without trying to earn any more good graces with God, she goes out into the towns and villages and points others to him.
Once we realize that we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope, our eagerness to share Jesus with others becomes almost suffocating.
The Peoples Response
Jesus’s words echo in the woman’s testimony; many in the surrounding towns and villages believe the woman’s testimony
They went out of the town and were coming to him. … Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4":30, 39-42
We do not know this woman’s name or what happened to her after this conversation, but her testimony is still echoed down through the centuries to our own time. People are still believing because of her testimony that Jesus told her all that she ever did.
And yet the Samaritans also checked the source. Others had face-to-face conversations with Jesus and understood his power wisdom and promise. They understood that he was the Savior of the world.
This story will continue to be told and retold and experienced and celebrated. The story of how Jesus crossed the divide of hostility between Jews and Samaritans, between sinners and their holy and righteous God, and he offered this woman and all the nations of the world living water. The story of how Jesus revealed that he was a prophet, a king, the eternal Son of God who knows us better than we know ourselves and offers forgiveness through his sacrificial love. The story of how one woman, who still remains nameless to us, went out into all the towns and villages reminding everyone that “we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”